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After checking out the first results of my campaign, i saw unfortunately a big difference between some competitors and one my clients in the Competitive Domain Analysis.

There was something which immediately grabbed my attention.

- One competitor has a DA of 60 and 10.000 external links and 1000 linking root domains. Open site explorer gives as top anchor links www.linkmarket.net a great number of times. Which is in my opinion a questionable/ illegal method for linkbuilding.

Do you agree that sites like linkmarket.net will lose their authority after the Panda-update (when it's entirely done in Europe) or would you try to get links from them as well? What kind of KPI's do you use to recognize questionable techniques from competitors?

If it is illegal in your opinion, will you send an email to Google about it or and just wait and start focusing on receiving high quality links?

I agree with EGOL. Obsessing over competitors backlinks is time consuming and you could be using that time to get some good content out or make valuable connections online. In my team I encourage creative thought and generation of links which nobody can copy. I never turn down a great link opportunity, however I never went through trouble of reporting a competitor to Google.

That said, I do like to observe backlink profiles on a purely holistic level which helps me understand their strength. Lately, though, I am seeing quality beat quantity and it seems Google is getting smarter at recognising truly valuable links.

We have made a decision to simple ignore these tactics, even when we see them being utilized successfully. I am not sure Google will ever completely be able to identify these type links, and it will drive you completely mad (as in insane) if you spend to much time thinking about it.

You use the term "illegal" which in a way goes to the heart of the matter. Legality has noting to do with it, it's not a legal issue. Many SEO's have a tendency to get far to deep into the "fairness" of Google's algorithm. In my opinion, thats a complete waste of energy.

Work on the areas you control, and leave the debate and commentary on Google's decisions to others. The way you bring your clients web site to high popularity is by making it a very interesting site and letting others find it. Not that good quality links are not important. it's just a lot easier if you attract them to you, instead of try and force your site upon them.

Thank you for your reply, however i disagree on one specific quote "any SEO's have a tendency to get far to deep into the "fairness" of Google's algorithm. In my opinion, thats a complete waste of energy."

I do think it's useful to understand the algorithm and watch closely to the strategic path of Google. It could save a lot of time & effort if you see the next "panda" update one year in advance and stay on track with white hat techniques. I do agree with you about it has nothing to do with "illegal" however if you create, design and make the rules of the game, you're the law.. Google has in our country 96% marketshare.

But you didn't gave an answer on my question about sending an email to Google in order to inform them about the questionable techniques your competitors are using. It would make the game more fair, right?

But you didn't gave an answer on my question about sending an email to Google in order to inform them about the questionable techniques your competitors are using.

I didn't know that they had an email address for this. I would not waste my time if they had an address. Those links might be worth nothing already. They just appear in a link report because they are links.

What are you going to say in your report? Wah! These guys have spammy links.

I understand what you are saying completely, and agree that understanding the algorithm to the extent one can, is a fair and purposeful pursuit. My point, however poorly communicated on my part is, the complaining, or using energy up on the fairness, or correctness of how the algorithm works is counter productive.

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